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St. Paul Didn’t Have Facebook

St. Paul didn’t have Facebook. Or Twitter. Or Instagram, Snapchat, any of the social media tools that we have today. He didn’t email, cell phones, or TV/radio. Paul didn’t have any of this, but Paul understood some things about communication and spreading the Gospel that we need to know in this social media age. Listen to what he tells us in Colossians 4: 5-6:

5 Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. 6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone.

Paul, talking about those that are “outsiders” says, be gracious to them. Use your time well. Let your speech be seasoned with salt. Paul understood that our language, what we say, and how we say it, these things are very, very important. Today, in our social media age, we have to be careful. It so easy for us to forget that the other person we are talking about, yelling about, complaining about, sharing a meme about, it’s easy for us to forget that person is one that Jesus Christ died for.

That God loves.

That God wants to be in a relationship with.

It so easy to get angry and frustrated and forget that “they” no matter who “they” are, are individuals that Jesus Christ loves. And we are called to love as well.

So, today, let’s live by Paul’s words. Let’s let our words be seasoned with salt. Let’s speak with kindness towards everyone, especially those that we disagree. I think of the words of one of my favorite preachers, Tim Keller, “I do not want to only proclaim truth, I want to persuade you to follow truth.” I don’t want to shout about Jesus or shout at people for doing things that I think are or wrong or things I don’t agree with.

I want to get people to follow Jesus. And so, my words matter. My language matters. What I say and post on social media matters.

And that’s true for all of us that are Christians. Today, my all our language, even our digital language, be seasoned with salt.

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